1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tape cutter and, more particularly, to a tape cutter having a slidable cutter blade employed in a tape printer where characters such as letters and symbols are printed or impressed on a tape.
2. Description of Related Art
There have been known tape printers for printing or inscribing characters such as letters and symbols on a tape in order to produce display labels and the like. One example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-16105. In this type of tape printer, a desired character is selected by rotating a dial and the selected character is printed or impressed on a tape. The tape is fed and cut to a predetermined length by a cutter blade. In a tape cutter employed in this type of tape printer, the cutter blade is moved toward a tape face and a cutting edge is pressed against the tape face. Namely, the cutter blade is pressed perpendicularly to the tape face so that the cutting edge is dug into the tape, by a pressure force, to cut the tape.
In this tape cutter, however, the tape cannot be cut unless a large pressure force is applied by the cutter blade to the tape face. Accordingly, the cutter blade is operated in such a manner as to cut the tape under great pressure, with an attendant problem of the generation of nicks in the cutter blade which deteriorates the durability of the cutter blade.
If the cutting edge of the cutter blade does not have a uniform cutting capacity, the tape may not be cut where the cutting edge is damaged (e.g., a portion having nicks). Consequently, the tape cannot be completely cut off.